The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-28
IDEAS ABOUT EDUCATION
Suggestions from College Professors on
Methods of Study and Teaching.
Country Teachers Discuss the Need of High
School Course in Township Schools
To-Day's Educational Meetings


been especially profitable in the variety of topics
discussed, ard the freshness of ideas presented.
The attendance, too, has been unusually large,
the faculties of the several institutions having
two or more representatives present Yesterday
morning the programme began with a paper
from Prof j. w. Moncrief, of Franklin College,
on THE Laboratory Method in Teaching His
tory" He favored the of text books IN the
preparatory and lower grades of collegiate
course, but when the students reached the
upper classes they should be assigned topics of
local or national importance to work up. They
should be allowed to collect data from every pos
sble source, and to draw therefrom their own
conclusions. He uses this method successfully.
The discussion the paper was general, sew
eral professors announcing their thorough agree
ment with the views and suggestions presented
In his treatment of Descriptive Geometry as
, Disciplinary Study" Prof. G. A. Waldo, of the
Rose Polytechnic Institute, said that instruction
in algebra and arith metic, the geometry of ex-
J tension, given at the expense of geometry
relating to form and shape, which was finely
| descriptive The latter enabled one to conceive
! of an object before it existed, and therefore it
was valuable in cultivatlng the Imagination a
! large portion of the paper dealt with technical
! illustrations but it ELECTED much attention and
a wide discussion, in which the mathematicians
and teachers of the classics held to the impor-
lance and superiority of their respective depart
uents.
Prof. John NJ Coulter. of Wabash College,
submitted his views college Professors and
Their Methods" He said professors love to the
orize, TO say that this study method develops
certain powers of the mind, that such and such
the processes by which the end is reached.
but, after all, what one really wants to know is,
what are the results2" A Observation-Disclosures
way of doing any thing will never find its reaza-
4. ton in human environment, and theoretical
methods Of education are no exception. All
agree that such and such the right
methods, but they adopted The
question is not what professors in
Indiana colleges can do if they have
all the appliances and opportunities of certain
foreign Eastern institutions but how the
work be done Best with the means at commando
Methods often suggested which simply
impossible in an Indiana college. The success
full teacher is who utilize whatever he
happens to have. and is himself the chief opDor-
) tunty his pupil has. 81 am becoming some
what tired" he said. ''of having people speak Of
buildings. collections. Libraries, laboratories.
and on and on, showing what great ad-
4 vantages a young man must enjoy who goes to
so richly endowed an institution All these are
as nothing in comparison with the question.
VINO are your menE 1t takes men to make col
leRe. and not buildings, but what distant day
our boards of control going to understand
this is very uncertain"
In regard to qualifications for a professorship,
| the Professor said, the teacher should make a
! life-work of the department subject of study
he might select. He will then become
thority, not local authority, for any chariatan
can De that, out one among MS fellows He
must have power to be productive. The notion
of college professor whose whole bust
ness is that of pump, simply to be pumped full
from some other reservoir that he may fill the
little pitchers held up under his may be
true but IS dreadfully beittling. He who has
neither power nor inclinationito do original work
> in his own department not only demonstrates
his unftness for position but loses great source
of inspiration his pupils The modern pro-
fessor must be trained to teach one thing Be
cause he has taken medical. theological or le
gal training 1t does not follow that he is able to
fill any chair in a college.
The xtbook. lecture and laboratory are the
methods OF teaching in common use There is
something In them or they would have been
long since condemned. But they have their
disadvantages in the fact that professors cannot
reach universal agreement upon ally one of
them. It is the part of wisdom to analyze the
three. discover their real advantages and dis
advantages retain the good and reject the bad
The textb book should be complete presentation
of the subject IN compact form, but it does
not lead sufficiently to investigation original
thinking. 1t makes one satisfied with second
hand Information. The lecture enables one
keep the subject fully abreast of the times. but
it s possible to through it as close and
accurate study as is desirable The laboratory
ject, but the field is necessarily small He |
would combine the three methods. taking the |
laboratory first. securing thesgreatest possible
advantages. This could be supplemented by |
lectures and textbooks.
college Discipline" was the topic developed |
by Prof o. j. Craig, of Purdue University. |
According to his ideas a student should be held |
personally accountable for his actions. The |
. system of discipline should be two-fold reform
atory and punitive; but the first should have |
the greatest prominence, but at the time |
it becomes the faculty to remember that colleges
not designed as reformatory Institutions. If |
students persist in keeping themselves out of |
harmony with the government of the instltu- |
ton they should be excluded from it Fewer |
professors should be problems of conduct and |
more ought to hold themselves as examples to |
those under tnam
Professor Carhart. of DePauw said that be
had observed the handwriting the walls of |
certain parts Of an institution indicative Of |
lax successful discipline. In one institution
particularly. he saw the writing on the walls Of
filthy terms and obscene suggestions. Some |
said it was the fault of the presidents govern
ment, others attributed the blame professors
for want of watchfulness, while others still
claimed that it came from the depravity of the
students themselves. But the MANAGEMENT was
changed and the walls became spotless. Again
q president and professors came in and
again the reprehensibls practices were repeated.
There another change and the walls for the
second time were free from disgusting writings
and phrases.
In the afternoon. President J. j. Mills, of
Earlham College, read interesting paper on
Sociology as College Study which he said
was greatly neglected 1t had no place in col
les late courses. at least in Indiana although it
was evident that the relation of man to man was
more important than the relation of man to the
mollusk The evolution of social con- |
ditons should demand more attention than the |
evolution of conscience The materials were at
hand in every courthouse. church, school and
family records for the proper study of sociology.
Relative TO Church and Science" Prof. O. P. |
Hay, of Bntler University, said there a con-
fict between the two and nothing could be
gained by asserting there was not So long as
knowledge of science is rs imperfect as it is now
and religion is covered with supersttions the
conflict will continue. He cited numerous his
torical incidents to sustain his proposition and
maintained that the church should keep its
hands off science, and that science should let the
church alone. When either assaulted the other
1t should be rebuked This paper led to a gem
eral discussion of varying views, in which the
supporters aud opposers of Prof. Hays ideas